Nunc pro tunc
by lalunaticscribe
Summary: Sequel to Nychthemeron. Based on beanpots' Day/Night AU. Cross-posted to AO3. Summary: His Grace, Duke Christophe of the Day Court came that day at the mouth of the cave in pomp and circumstance – twice. TL;DR: Yuuri hides in the Heavenly Rock Cave, casting the Night into darkness, hence Phichit devises a way to get him out. It involves Chris.


_**Nunc pro tunc**_

 _ **An LLS Production**_

* * *

Despite his inclination to let the Dawn Herald get away with locking the monarchs of Day and Night under the Vault of the Sky, Phichit was still duty-bound to investigate. It was thus that a copy of the Nychthemeron circle lay on Phichit's desk, built of wand-quality wood in the shape of a cylindrical bureau Mazarin for his perusal.

"Hanaq Pacha, version vector," Phichit calculated as the sun, moon, Earth and the surrounding stars projected themselves above his desk as he rolled back the cylinder. "Anthrophic Principle Interface."

A parchment unrolled itself, writing spiralled across its surface in symbols whose meaning were lost to time, onwards and onwards until the language of magic vaguely resembled modern human symbol.

" _Nunc pro tunc_. Idappaccayatā clause of _Ceteris paribus_. Pratītyasamutpāda. Authorisation: Aurvandil."

Fish-bone diagrams of causality projections wiped themselves clean as Phichit's words were verbally inputted into the engine. On the simulation run across the magical screen, the sun and moon made its march against the sky. The human world continued its affairs, unheeding of time and its measurable nature as dictated by the heavenly spheres.

The Herald of Dusk sighed. "He's genius enough to make sure that humans didn't notice an eclipse, but what about portability? That idiot."

Phichit considered the human-level projection of a fine-tuned universe some more. He then announced: "Apocatastasis."

He slammed the cylinder closed before the conflagration could end his cloak.

* * *

For a mortal, fairy rings and miscellaneous doors between worlds posed a unique challenge to the Courts. These doors by which a human could mysteriously find themselves outside of their time of origin spanned conjunctions in space and time – common doors were Halloween, Obon, the Seventh Lunar Month, Walpurgisnacht, and the list went on. Indeed, the Quality tended to leave unwitting mortals to that sort of fate – the governing of such doors were left to the heralds of that transition between day and night: the Dawn and the Dusk. Phichit was therefore more conscientious in closing the doors that led _sideways_ as he entered the mortal world to find Dawn.

He was less conscientious in his timing, however.

"Okay..." Dusk drawled when he finally located the Herald of Dawn in the arms of a Night hero, both astride a large, black motorcycle. Both young men sprang apart – the stoic hero going for whatever arms he had on hand, and golden-haired Dawn attempting to take the life of Dusk via ocular incineration after falling arse over tea-kettle to the ground.

"WHAT?!"

"That's not very polite, Yurio," Phichit mildly held up the Nychthemeron to bank Yuri's rage. "I won't mention it to Tutor Yakov if you help me with making this portable."

"Beka, stop threatening your Court's Herald, you're next in line for his job," Yuri snatched the inscribed magic circle diagram out of Phichit's proffered hand to scan it. "It'll take more than iron to kill him. What d'you want, Dusk?"

"As Yuuri's best friend and wingman, I want his happiness, of course!" Phichit's grin grew, all with the glamour of his Court. Dukes and barons had left their positions and estates to work as Phichit's footmen. "And..."

"And what?"

"And because His Majesty King Yuuri, in a fit of embarrassed pique, locked himself inside the Heavenly Rock Cave," revealed Phichit, "so I need a stopgap solution before the new moon stretches out over three days."

* * *

There was a cave, somewhere on the Japanese archipelago, that nobody knew or see that once contained one of Viktor's predecessors, Amaterasu Ōmikami. Amaterasu had ruled in a triumvirate of herself and her twin brothers, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto, and Susanoo no Mikoto. They had retired, and were now enjoying their retirement somewhere, but their reign had established the precedent of the 'missing sun'.

Yuuri was now establishing a 'missing moon'.

" _Yuuri_..." Viktor slumped outside of the cave sealed with a giant rock, scratching against the rock and whining like the sun dogs he favoured. Comparing the new moon-dog scratching against the giant rock to the King of the Day made little difference – both looked like lost puppies seeking their cloistered master.

As Viktor scratched, the Eastern Crown fell from his brow, rolling before a spike embedded itself into the soft earth. A searing hiss of smoke revealed the Crown's unbound power of constrained sun melting into rock before Yuri kicked it spikes-forward into Viktor's scalp.

"For the love of Gaia, get up!" Yuri roared.

"Yuuri won't face me, _Yurio_!"

"That's not my name, idiot!" Yuri put his foot back to the ground, casting a critical eye to the mouth of the Heavenly Rock Cave. "Dusk has a solution."

"The good news is, there's precedent for getting recalcitrant deities of the celestial spheres out from there," Phichit declared. "Your Majesty? I need you to call Chris."

* * *

His Grace, Duke Christophe of the Day Court came that day at the mouth of the cave in pomp and circumstance – twice.

The first time was allegedly due to dancing with Herald of the Dusk and a duo of storm deities headed West – the Count Georgi donated a tuft of cloud to seed in case the missing moon went on too long, and Princess Mila of the Thunder added the sound of her drums when Duchess Sara of the Summer arrived _sans frère_. From what Phichit gathered, Duke Michele of Winter was being led in circles by well-meaning Baron Nekola in hunting down a swarm of rogue sylphs by Tornado Alley.

With that all said, however, the Princess and the Duchess did make agreeably loud music by which Chris came to strip-tease and make all who were present laugh. The Quality turned out in droves, until Phichit had to regularly pull Otabek back on duty to sweep people out from before the giant eight-span mirror hung to face the cave mouth. Circumhorizontal arcs of rainbow light hung suspended, maintained by the Duke's glamour of dazzling light and energy incited by the dance of stamping feet and wandering hands.

"I'm coming...!"

"Please don't," Dawn snarled to the makeshift stage, where Chris was splayed on display in a manner that just barely skirted decency. Though the concept itself was negligent amidst the Quality, a vague idea of it persisted nonetheless, for some reason no one could divine. In the Duke's case, this was more for the sake of titillation than moral considerations.

"I'm hurt, Yuuri doesn't want to see me. Why didn't he call me?" the Duke lamented. "Viktor, what are you doing?"

"Reading up on precedent in between stills," Viktor pointed to where a Day-commissioned painter was sketching out the scene on painting glory. "I... don't think I can say that there's a more beautiful moon, can I? I don't think I can."

"Not even to get Yuuri out of his head?" Phichit asked, having borrowed Otabek's pole-axe to sweep the little faeries and other Quality. A cloud of laughter rose around, especially as a pair of stars with their triplets cracked a joke with Baron Minami and Prince Seung-gil.

Viktor shook his head.

Chris pushed the Day King up as he dismounted the makeshift stage made from a solid wooden tub. "Viktor, it's your turn to strip-! Yes, please strip."

Something in the Duke's tone made Phichit turn his head and consider the crack between rock and cave. The crack that assuredly had not been there earlier. Humming, Phichit gave a silent order for a dance with a heavy, percussive beat as the Day King took centre stage. Throughout the dance, Phichit kept a count of the articles of clothings shed – cloak, crown put into Yuri's hands, leggings, shirt, under-shirt- and hello, widening crack, let Phichit pull you open!

King Yuuri of the Night fell flat on his face as the giant rock flew aside. "You know, holing yourself up only works if you genuinely don't want to see King Viktor again," Phichit gave a mock sigh.

Blots of pink had occupied Yuuri's greyed countenance. "I- I- Phichit, I-"

"You love me as a friend, I love you like a friend, now go dance with your naked paramour before the rest of the Quality is exposed to his junk," the Herald of Dusk gave a judicious squeeze down on Yuuri's cloak of the night sky, eliciting a mousy squeak that launched the Night King forward near naked Viktor.

The Day King turned on his counterpart with a big grin. "Yuuri, look! We can be perverts together!"

" _HAH_?! THAT'S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT?!" Dawn's roar went unheeded as the King of Night gave a higher squeak.

"I know you kept thinking about Duke Michele's accusation and the Dauphins Leroy," Viktor continued with blithe abandon about current diplomatic policy of the Night Court, "but I promise I accept ruling the realms together!"

"Viktor, I... at your coronation I was drunk..."

"And I love you! Sober or drunk on moonshine that you are," Viktor pulled the Astral Corolla from Yuuri's brow to facilitate dancing. "And you love me! You said so!"

"...I think I said that to only a bit of you-"

"It's still me," Viktor smiled. "I have crossed the horizon to find you, _luchik_."

"What about Winter and the Tides? And, ruling two realms together would need some rearrangement and-"

"See? You've given a lot of practical thought to this." The naked King of Day started to waltz the King of Night around in the assured confidence of being far more than any enemy could withstand. "If you like, we can adjourn to my castle!"

"You're still on duty, Viktor!" Dawn snarled, as Phichit called up his appointment book and pencilled in a programmer to overhaul the Hanaq Pacha. It was going to be a long integration.

* * *

 _ **Critiquez, s'il vous plaît !**_


End file.
